(A singleplayer only review)
Sam Fisher is back again in the newest instalment of the Splinter Cell series, this time working undercover in a criminal organisation and with the NSA as a double agent, as the title of the game infers. Double Agent is a very different game to its predecessors, though stealth is still the order of the day here, many of the missions are based in very bright areas, unlike the previous games which all took place in very dark areas giving you plenty of opportunities to creep around in the shadows. Along with this rather perplexing shift in the style of the game, there is also a new trust and moral choice system. Though certainly interesting alterations to the series, I feel like the formula has been tampered with a little too much, and the result is a game that doesn't really feel like Splinter Cell anymore.
The new trust system works for both sides of the fence, the criminal organisation you're working in (the JBA) and the NSA. Doing a task to please one side may not be acceptable to the other side, meaning you have to balance your options to keep both trust bars high. If you lose all your trust for one of the organisations then its mission failed. While I understand the reason for this addition to the game, I feel like they didn't do enough with it. Losing all trust being a Game Over defeats the whole point of having it there in the first place, and it just leaves it being an annoying bar that you have to keep filling up. Why can't I continue playing as a bad guy if I keep following the JBA's orders and lose all the NSA's trust? Why don't my moral choices have any real effect on the game other than the trust bars dropping a bit? While I can accept that all this stuff takes a lot of work to implement effectively, if they can't go the whole way with it then I would rather it simply not be there, because at its current state it feels rather half-baked.
The missions in Double Agent are pretty varied. But while the locations you visit are all very pretty and memorable, they are also very bright. As stated in my opening paragraph, Double Agent lacks the series trademark darkness. Being stealthy in an older Splinter Cell game would involve hiding in the shadows, then slowly creeping up behind an enemy to incapacitate, or sneak around him. In this game, you're more likely to hide behind an object of some kind, and then distract an enemy somehow to be able to run past without being noticed. I can't help but feel that they're missed the point slightly with this game. Hiding in shadows is what Splinter Cell has always been about, in fact the last game in the series was the darkest yet, and to suddenly shift from that into these blindingly bright levels is just really confusing to me. Though dark corners aren't completely non-existent, there are quite rare. It's not just the brightness either. I often felt like it was almost expected of me to run and gun. One example is in a later level where you have to track down someone in the middle of a warzone in the Congo. You have to go fast because there are bullets flying everywhere, and you keep getting hurried around by the person speaking to you in your earpiece. Due to the nature of that particular level it is actually easier to get detected and then hide, and shoot some of the brain-dead AI characters in the head as they walk slowly to your location, and then run out and deal with the rest. This does NOT make a good stealth game. It's not just this either, the final level after that is very much the same, and various levels before these have areas where it's simply easier to run as fast as possible to your objective than to take it slowly and be stealthy.
After a major mission in Double Agent you're taken back to the base of the JBA, and asked to do various remedial tasks around the place, while also being asked to snoop around by the NSA; and you're given a certain time to do it all in, like 30 minutes. It's really not much fun at all, they completely break the flow of the game, and you'll just get bored and want to skip it all to get to the next real mission. You'll find yourself reluctantly doing the primary tasks, and then once you realise your secondary tasks won't lose you much trust and aren't particularly fun; you'll be left with 5 - 10 minutes of time left to either force yourself to do the tasks, or just leave the game running while you go off and do something else. I found that it's better to do the latter. Making me leave the game to play itself while I wait for it to finish pissing about doesn't win it any points in my book.
Graphically, Double Agent is good. There are some really pretty effects, and lighting and shading look very nice. Despite being uncharacteristically bright, I can't deny that those bright areas are often nice to look at. However, it doesn't run at a stable frame rate on the Xbox 360, which puzzled me a bit, as there are plenty of better looking games out there. It can only be put down to sloppy programming unfortunately.
As a fan of the Splinter Cell series, I'm sadly disappointed in the newest instalment. Double Agent is certainly not a bad game, but it's completely different than any other Splinter Cell game. It's still a stealth game, and the same solid stealth mechanics the series is famous for are still there as much as they ever were. What drags it down is that the levels just don't seem to be made with these mechanics in mind. It's like they were made for another game and then ported to Splinter Cell, making them feel really feel out of place, and Sam doesn't seem suited to them at all. The trust and moral choice additions to the game haven't been implemented too well and feel a little bit sloppy. If you want a solid and worthy addition to the series, this is not it. However, on its own merits it's not a bad game, and if you like stealth games it's definitely worth a try at least.
Rent it.
Sam Fisher is back again in the newest instalment of the Splinter Cell series, this time working undercover in a criminal organisation and with the NSA as a double agent, as the title of the game infers. Double Agent is a very different game to its predecessors, though stealth is still the order of the day here, many of the missions are based in very bright areas, unlike the previous games which all took place in very dark areas giving you plenty of opportunities to creep around in the shadows. Along with this rather perplexing shift in the style of the game, there is also a new trust and moral choice system. Though certainly interesting alterations to the series, I feel like the formula has been tampered with a little too much, and the result is a game that doesn't really feel like Splinter Cell anymore.
The new trust system works for both sides of the fence, the criminal organisation you're working in (the JBA) and the NSA. Doing a task to please one side may not be acceptable to the other side, meaning you have to balance your options to keep both trust bars high. If you lose all your trust for one of the organisations then its mission failed. While I understand the reason for this addition to the game, I feel like they didn't do enough with it. Losing all trust being a Game Over defeats the whole point of having it there in the first place, and it just leaves it being an annoying bar that you have to keep filling up. Why can't I continue playing as a bad guy if I keep following the JBA's orders and lose all the NSA's trust? Why don't my moral choices have any real effect on the game other than the trust bars dropping a bit? While I can accept that all this stuff takes a lot of work to implement effectively, if they can't go the whole way with it then I would rather it simply not be there, because at its current state it feels rather half-baked.
The missions in Double Agent are pretty varied. But while the locations you visit are all very pretty and memorable, they are also very bright. As stated in my opening paragraph, Double Agent lacks the series trademark darkness. Being stealthy in an older Splinter Cell game would involve hiding in the shadows, then slowly creeping up behind an enemy to incapacitate, or sneak around him. In this game, you're more likely to hide behind an object of some kind, and then distract an enemy somehow to be able to run past without being noticed. I can't help but feel that they're missed the point slightly with this game. Hiding in shadows is what Splinter Cell has always been about, in fact the last game in the series was the darkest yet, and to suddenly shift from that into these blindingly bright levels is just really confusing to me. Though dark corners aren't completely non-existent, there are quite rare. It's not just the brightness either. I often felt like it was almost expected of me to run and gun. One example is in a later level where you have to track down someone in the middle of a warzone in the Congo. You have to go fast because there are bullets flying everywhere, and you keep getting hurried around by the person speaking to you in your earpiece. Due to the nature of that particular level it is actually easier to get detected and then hide, and shoot some of the brain-dead AI characters in the head as they walk slowly to your location, and then run out and deal with the rest. This does NOT make a good stealth game. It's not just this either, the final level after that is very much the same, and various levels before these have areas where it's simply easier to run as fast as possible to your objective than to take it slowly and be stealthy.
After a major mission in Double Agent you're taken back to the base of the JBA, and asked to do various remedial tasks around the place, while also being asked to snoop around by the NSA; and you're given a certain time to do it all in, like 30 minutes. It's really not much fun at all, they completely break the flow of the game, and you'll just get bored and want to skip it all to get to the next real mission. You'll find yourself reluctantly doing the primary tasks, and then once you realise your secondary tasks won't lose you much trust and aren't particularly fun; you'll be left with 5 - 10 minutes of time left to either force yourself to do the tasks, or just leave the game running while you go off and do something else. I found that it's better to do the latter. Making me leave the game to play itself while I wait for it to finish pissing about doesn't win it any points in my book.
Graphically, Double Agent is good. There are some really pretty effects, and lighting and shading look very nice. Despite being uncharacteristically bright, I can't deny that those bright areas are often nice to look at. However, it doesn't run at a stable frame rate on the Xbox 360, which puzzled me a bit, as there are plenty of better looking games out there. It can only be put down to sloppy programming unfortunately.
As a fan of the Splinter Cell series, I'm sadly disappointed in the newest instalment. Double Agent is certainly not a bad game, but it's completely different than any other Splinter Cell game. It's still a stealth game, and the same solid stealth mechanics the series is famous for are still there as much as they ever were. What drags it down is that the levels just don't seem to be made with these mechanics in mind. It's like they were made for another game and then ported to Splinter Cell, making them feel really feel out of place, and Sam doesn't seem suited to them at all. The trust and moral choice additions to the game haven't been implemented too well and feel a little bit sloppy. If you want a solid and worthy addition to the series, this is not it. However, on its own merits it's not a bad game, and if you like stealth games it's definitely worth a try at least.
Rent it.